James Goodfellow

{{short description|British engineer}}

{{about||the Australian cricketer|James Goodfellow (cricketer)|people with a similar name|Jimmy Goodfellow (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = James Goodfellow

| image =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1937 (age 85-86)

| birth_place = Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

| death_date =

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| nationality = Scottish

| known_for = Inventing the PIN and modern ATM

}}

James Goodfellow (born 1937) is a Scottish inventor. In 1966, he patented personal identification number (PIN) technology and an automated teller machine (ATM).UK Patent No.1,197,183 - 2 May 1966.{{cite news|url=http://heritage.scotsman.com/scotlandsgreatestinventor/So-whose-razorsharp-mind-has.3327125.jp|title=So whose razor-sharp mind has the edge?|date=15 September 2007|work=The Scotsman|accessdate=17 January 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522125645/http://heritage.scotsman.com/scotlandsgreatestinventor/So-whose-razorsharp-mind-has.3327125.jp|archivedate=22 May 2010}} He is generally considered the inventor of the modern ATM.{{cite web|title=James Goodfellow (born 1937), inventor and first patentor of the automated teller|url=http://www.engineeringhalloffame.org/profile-goodfellow.html|publisher=Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame|accessdate=24 April 2020|quote=James Goodfellow is now generally accepted as being the inventor of the ATM.}}{{cite news|last=Jeffries|first=Stuart|title=Pins and needle|date=20 January 2005|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2005/jan/20/accounts.saving|accessdate=24 April 2020|quote=Who invented the ATM as we know it? We have to think it was James Goodfellow in Scotland for holding a patent date of 1966.}}

Goodfellow was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, where he later attended St Mirin's Academy.{{cite news|last=Speirs|first=Kathleen|title=Banking inventor James Goodfellow OBE goes back to school in Paisley|date=2 April 2018|newspaper=Scottish Daily Record|url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/banking-inventor-james-goodfellow-obe-12291259|accessdate=24 April 2020}} As a 28-year-old development engineer at Kelvin Hughes, he was given the project of developing an automatic cash dispenser in 1965. His system accepted a machine readable encrypted card, with a numerical PIN keypad. The invention received UK Patent No. 1,197,183 with a priority date of 2 May 1966. In 1967, the world's first ATM was at Barclays Bank in Enfield, north London, which used a rival design by John Shepherd-Barron of De La Rue that accepted cheques impregnated with a radioactive chemical.{{cite news|last=Milligan|first=Brian|title=The man who invented the cash machine|date=25 June 2007|publisher=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6230194.stm|accessdate=24 April 2020}} De La Rue did not patent the design.

In 2005, Shepherd-Barron was widely reported as the inventor of the cash dispenser after he received an OBE. This compelled Goodfellow to publicize his patent. "[Shepherd-Barron] invented a radioactive device to withdraw money. I invented an automated system with an encrypted card and a pin number, and that's the one that is used around the world today," he said. Despite being appointed an OBE in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours for his invention of the personal identification number,{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5087984.stm|title=Royal honour for inventor of Pin|publisher=BBC|accessdate=5 November 2007|date=16 June 2006}} Goodfellow has publicly commented on the lack of recognition and compensation for his inventiveness, since PIN codes are ubiquitous today.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03syg1w|title=How the PIN number was invented|publisher=BBC|accessdate=5 May 2016|date=2 May 2016}}

Goodfellow, a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2011, BBC Radio Scotland broadcast Goodfellow's oral account of the history of his invention, rebroadcast in 2022.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b013n554 | title=Pioneers - Series 2 - James Goodfellow - BBC Sounds }}